Demon Lovers

Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief

On September 20, 1587, Walpurga Hausmännin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of maleficia (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty—one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act—sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many divers places, . . . even in the street by night."

As Walter Stephens demonstrates in Demon Lovers, it was not Hausmännin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons—instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches).

Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons—for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches—would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief—a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, Satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction.

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNote on TranslationsIntroduction: Sex Fiends1. Witchcraft Theory: Copulation with Demons as Carnal Knowledge2. Why Women? The Malleus maleficarum3. Sexy Devils: How They Got Bodies4. Incredible Sex: Confronting the Difficulty of Belief5. From Dreams to Reality: Why Witches Fly6. Experiments with Witches7. The Theory of Witchcraft Power8. "This Is My Body": Witches and Desecration9. Witches, Infanticide, and Power10. Illusion and Reality, Part One: Crib Death and Stealthy Cats11. Illusion and Reality, Part Two: Witches Who Steal Penises12. Interview with the Demon: From Exorcism to Witchcraft13. Witchcraft, Body, and SoulConclusion: Talking around the UnspeakableNotesWorks CitedIndex

Review Quotes

Elspeth Whitney | Renaissance Quarterly

“This book fills an important gap by exploring the often-tangled thought processes of the first generation of ‘witchcraft theorists’ . . . [who] constructed the essentials of the early modern notion of the witch. . . . This provocative, often fascinating, book poses an original and important perspective on the meaning of the witch-figure in the history of late-medieval and Renaissance theology. It is essential reading for those interested in the witch hunts, as well as those with a general interest in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century thought.”

Margaret R. Miles | Journal of the American Academy of Religion

“Scholars of religion must be highly indebted to Walter Stephens for providing a responsible reading of witchcraft theorists. . . . His thesis is well supported, persuasive, and a welcome antidote to sensationalist accounts of witch persecution. . . . Demon Lovers is fascinating and instructive reading for anyone who notices and fears the gulf between human intentions and their effects.”

Michael D. Bailey | Speculum

“This important book moves witchcraft from the periphery to the center of late-medieval and early-modern intellectual and religious culture, challenges the very distinction between medieval and early modern, and forces us to reconsider seriously some basic categories of premodern European thought and life.”

Edward Peters | The Historian

“The book is valuable not only because of its focus on witchcraft theoreticians and witchcraft in a theological context, but also because Stephens focuses on influential, but little-studied, early thinkers. . . . The book is essential reading for all serious students of the subject. It is a major contribution to the rehabilitation of the literature of witchcraft theory.”

American Academy of Religion: American Academy of Religion Awards for Excellence
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